Dressember, Fleece Leggings and Jesus

Each Friday, I hide myself in our local House of Prayer, and do just that – pray. I pray specifically each Friday for Freedom of captives in Human Trafficking and for Orphans. I lead a prayer set with 2 faithful worship leaders. Praying for the injustice of Human Trafficking, well, it’s something that God has called me to with only a portion of his heart for each of them.

Today, my worship leader isn’t feeling well, so we don’t have live set. Instead, I’ve click over to the Exodus Cry archived prayer set, recorded on Monday night. This is our fall back plan when we need it. As I listen, I’m in a dress and my new fleece lined tights, raising awareness through #dressember – over 1000 women around the country are wearing a dress each day of December to a “dress” the issue of human trafficking. In less than six days, they have raised nearly $40,000 for International Justice Mission. (More on this all in a latter post – for now just check out www.dressember.net and if you want to donate, click on my name under participants!)

Today, I invite you to pray Psalm 10 with me…

Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
Do not forget the helpless.13 Why does the wicked man revile God?
Why does he say to himself,
“He won’t call me to account”?14 But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless.15 Break the arm of the wicked man;
call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
that would not otherwise be found out.

16 The Lord is King for ever and ever;
the nations will perish from his land.17 You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that mere earthly mortals
will never again strike terror.

As I read and prayed this, the traffickers and the Johns were on my heart, and God gave me this precious metaphor. It’s cold here in Iowa, very cold. Like -10 degrees without wind-chill kind of cold. Today I ventured to my local Wal-Mart and purchased some fleece lined tights to wear with my dress. As I was sitting in the prayer room praying shortly after, God reminded me that he knows all things. My tights look like normal grey tights on the outside, the inside is completely different – warm and fuzzy, caressing my skin with goose bumps from the frigid Iowa winter air.

God is like that. He knows the inside. Often both the traffickers and the men buying the services from them look normal. Their outside appears like the outside of any normal guy. But the inside, well, it might need a little Jesus.

And as I prayed these verses over and over again this morning, God reminded me that he sees the inside. He knows each of our hearts. Some, like my new tights are warm and fuzzy and full of Jesus. Some, well, they are like my old tights that are now wadded up in my hamper. They are cold and don’t have much on the inside. They allow the frigid, cold, damp air to blow right through them. But God – well he’s in the business of defending the fatherless and the oppressed. What a blessed assurance. He knows the inside and isn’t fooled by outward appearance. And he will deal swiftly with the cold hearts until the day when earthly morals will never again strike terror.

If you are just learning about Human Trafficking and feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all, take heed. Our prayers are significant and we don’t have to overcome anything… Jesus already did that, and he is coming again with his army. Pray and listen to our great God. His voice guides us, because he knows us on the inside – warm and fuzzy and full of love for Jesus. And HE is able to infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Just pray!